{"id":366180,"date":"2016-06-01T06:40:35","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T13:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.31posts.com\/?p=115"},"modified":"2023-11-28T08:30:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T15:30:12","slug":"launching-a-saas-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/launching-a-saas-application\/","title":{"rendered":"Launching a SaaS application&#8230;."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It is interesting. &nbsp;Even though we have been using the app for about 12 months (and I am loving it)&nbsp;it has taken a lot of effort to get it to a point where we&nbsp;feel comfortable launching an a service for others to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t have to be &#8220;right&#8221;, and it will never be perfect, &nbsp;but it has to be intuitively easy to user and setup, as well as&nbsp;we have to have the ability to support our users, which is easier said than done. &nbsp;Although the application has been up and running, and we are lucky to have a few alpha users, we have not started the marketing effort yet.. &nbsp;We love the comments we have received so far, and we know it will get better over time, as we receive more feedback, suggestions and new ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We plan to publish a more detail list of activities we have used to launch this application, but for now, this is a high-level bullet point run-down of what we have been doing (our pre-launch&nbsp;checklist):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Secure Domain Name (changed three times so far!!)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select a hosting service<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Secure admin email account for setup and support activities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Setup Google Analytics account<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Secure Social Media Channels\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Twitter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Facebook<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tumblr<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Google+<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube Channel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Instagram<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sales Page in place an operational (responsive design)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Short pitch \/ description of the application<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Description of What it Solves (Pain)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use Cases<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Product Demo (video), Screen Shots and promo video(s)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Key features<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Backstory (Where did the idea came from)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pricing Tiers &nbsp;(Strategy)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Frequently Ask Questions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contact Us Page<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Registration Page (with&nbsp;email-verification)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Make sure NEW&nbsp;registrations&nbsp;request can easily be&nbsp;addressed&nbsp;<\/em>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is a critical piece, as we need to quickly fulfill any verified orders\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ideally automated workflow process<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mailing List Registration&nbsp;(with&nbsp;email-verification)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Beta Registration page&nbsp;(with&nbsp;email-verification)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>User&nbsp;statistics \/ reporting<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Application Development &amp; Issues (bugs \/ features \/ roadmap ) tracking system\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Continued development is on going<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There will always be a list of open issues\/ new features (prioritize!)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Run an application &nbsp;security check (preferably by a third party)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blog setup\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Articles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Updates Log<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tips and Tricks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tutorials Page<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>YouTube Channel\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To place videos &nbsp;(Promotional, Overviews, Tutorials, How-to, etc)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Forum Site (optional )\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Intended to be a place where the&nbsp;user community can communicate, ask questions, capture knowledge<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create three basic forums areas:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>General Q&amp;A<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Installation \/ Setup Questions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>New Feature Requests<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Seed some initial data FAQs and such.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pre-Marketing Activities:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Develop relevant blog articles (Blog Content)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>General Best Practice Articles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tips and Tricks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop videos<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop competitors list &nbsp;(pros\/cons)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop potential partner list.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop objections list with associated answers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collect sites to place comments for backlist<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop initial launch email list<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collect hashtags to use in Twitter<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Create small &#8220;info-bits&#8221; for comment response campaign<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Expand \/ interact with early adopters program (VERY IMPORTANT!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Review &amp; Test Backup and Recovery process !!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Operations and Maintenance\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>New Registration requests review\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>if automated process &#8211; make sure no abuse \/spam<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor Applicaiton health<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor email(s) accounts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor Blog comments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor \/ Update Social Media channels<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Monitor Support Forum&nbsp;(if setup)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check backups operational ( Review &amp; Test recovery process !!)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>== More to come here! ==<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Marketing Activities:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Create site Awareness:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Schedule tweets with appropriate hash-tags for exposure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Start comment back-linking activities (using collected sites \/ info-bits)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Develop &#8220;Second Wave&#8221; &nbsp;of users &nbsp;(your true set of real users!)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Collect data\/interact \/ develop relationships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>== More to come here!==<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the basic steps are sequential in nature, there is always continuous improvement and iteration at each of the steps listed below &#8211; You are always optimizing, &nbsp;trying new things and developing better processes.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" src=\"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160408080916-e1464760692396.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-366146\" style=\"width:484px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160408080916-e1464760692396.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160408080916-e1464760692396-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160408080916-e1464760692396-768x519.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">This is my son Alexander (circa 1995)  in my home office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is interesting. &nbsp;Even though we have been using the app for about 12 months (and I am loving it)&nbsp;it has taken a lot of effort to get it to a point where we&nbsp;feel comfortable launching an a service for others to use. It doesn&#8217;t have to be &#8220;right&#8221;, and it will never be perfect,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[602,812],"class_list":["post-366180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journey","tag-31posts","tag-announcement"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":17,"label":"Journey"}],"post_tag":[{"value":602,"label":"31posts"},{"value":812,"label":"Announcement"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/20160408080916-799x236-1.jpg",799,236,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Jorge Pereira","author_link":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/author\/jorge\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":17,"name":"Journey","slug":"journey","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":316,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":17,"category_count":316,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Journey","category_nicename":"journey","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":602,"name":"31posts","slug":"31posts","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":612,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":33,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":812,"name":"Announcement","slug":"announcement","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":822,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jorgep.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}